The present disclosure relates generally to the presentation of information, such as advertising, and in particular to selecting informative presentations based on navigation cues and user intent.
Mobile devices, such as smart phones, often come equipped with global positioning systems (GPS) which allow the mobile device to ascertain the user's geographical location at any particular time. Applications that execute on mobile devices so equipped have come to take advantage of this positional information. For example, a mapping application that executes on a mobile device might receive a user's command to plot a route from the user's current location to a user-specified destination. In response to such a command, the mapping application can use the global positioning data to determine the shortest or best route from the user's current location to the user-specified destination.
Some advertisers have also sought to take advantage of the global positioning systems of mobile devices. One popular use of GPS is known as “geofencing.” Geofencing involves the definition of a geographical area, typically via a set of coordinates that define a polygonal boundary or the center of a circular area. Applications that execute on a mobile device can continuously monitor the location of the mobile device. In response to an application's determination that the mobile device's current GPS coordinates fall within the boundaries of such a “geofenced” area, the application can present, to the mobile device's user, an advertisement that is associated with a point of interest found in that area. The advertiser hopes that it has guessed correctly that the user's current proximity to a point of interest signifies that the user would be interested in the contents of the advertisement. Unfortunately, too often, the user's current proximity to any point of interest is merely coincidental, and has nothing to do with the user's intent. Under such circumstances, the user might find the advertisement to be irrelevant, annoying, or intrusive.